I HATED, HATED, HATED THIS COMMEMORATION: Thanks to Mayor Daley, today is officially Roger Ebert Day in Chicago.

FROM THE PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE: By request, this thread is open for discussion of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for those who have finished it.

Warning: a powerful jinx will be sent to those who gaze upon the Comments prematurely.

LET'S ALL FEEL OLD, SHALL WE? When Al Leiter won his first Yankee debut (eighteen years ago), the players on the field included Paul Molitor, Rob Deer, Robin Yount, Dale Sveum, Rickey Henderson, Willie Randolph, Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield, Jay Buhner and Dave Righetti. (The second debut was, of course, today.)

How long ago was September 15, 1987? Bernie Williams was still four years away from making his major league debut.

NO WORD ON IF MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL'S JOINING THE CAST AS SPADER'S SECRETARY: In happy news for those of us seeking something suitably snarky to follow up House on Tuesday nights, brand new episodes of Boston Legal return to your TV in three short weeks. Set the TiVo now.

ONLY THREE MORE FOR A CERT GRANT: Some of our readers will likely be interested in confirming this--Antonin Scalia bobblehead certificates should be arriving shortly--mine arrived yesterday. Sadly, I'll probably be waiting till November to pickup, as I'm planning on going to one of the "big law events" at which the fine folks from The Green Bag will be handing out dolls.

WITHOUT LITA FORD, IT'S A LOAD OF CRAP: Via Karl Martino, one blogger lists The Top 12 Hottest Female Guitarists Ever.

Um, does Kelley Deal really count as a guitar player? And where's Superchunk's Laura Ballance? Tanya Donelly?

I'M DAN RYDELL, ALONGSIDE CASEY MCCALL: I've been rewatching my Sports Night DVD's recently--all of you have seen Sports Night, which is probably the best sitcom of the past decade, right?--and several things have struck me. Not just a reminder of the greatness, and a renewed wondering of exactly why no member of the cast ever got an Emmy nomination (the winners in categories where folks could/should have been nominated included Helen Hunt and John Lithgow) and how "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz" managed to beat "The Apology" for best writing for a comedy series. Also, you notice odd coincidences, such as the fact that on both Sports Night and Six Feet Under, a major plot point is Peter Krause's character's bad marriage to a woman named Lisa. And you wonder why the hell NBC didn't have the brains to bring in the Sports Night writers once Sorkin left West Wing--most of them are working on NBC shows already (Scrubs, Will and Grace), so it wouldn't have been such a big deal.

But what I hadn't realized is just how many guest stars went on to bigger and better things--Janel Moloney, Lisa Edelstein, and a brunette Teri Polo turn up in various places. H!ITG! (and successful writer in his own right) Clark Gregg turns up But the biggest surprise is Brenda Strong as villainess Sally Sasser--a face you don't recognize immediately, but a voice you will, as she's spent this season playing Mary Alice Young on Desperate Housewives, and has turned up from time to time as the late Mrs. Brown on Everwood. In both of those roles, Strong plays the model of domesticity, but Sally Sasser is a gleeful, slutty, maneater, and Strong digs into it with all of her teeth. It makes you admire her all the more for shifting gears so dramatically. (And interestingly, it adds some texture to the Lynette/Mary Alice relationship on Housewives knowing the actress' background.)